Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had asked for the resignation of long-term Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, local media claimed.
The reports rejected on Tuesday by the ruling AKP party spokesperson Mahir Ünal, who said "claims regarding the forced resignation of this or that Mayor do not reflect the truth".
President Erdoğan also made a paradoxical statement about Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek's resignation claims, saying "There is no such thing at the moment, but it does not mean that it won't".
The resignation claims of Melih Gökçek, along with six other mayors, came after the forced resignation of İstanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş in late September. These forced resignations of party administrators are considered as part of President Erdoğan's endeavour of reforming the AKP party.
WHO IS MELİH GÖKÇEK?
Elected as Ankara Mayor first in 1994, Melih Gökçek had won all the mayoral elections in Ankara since then.
He has been one of the oldest allies of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, since the 1990s when they were together in the Islamist "Refah Party" (Welfare Party) which was later banned from politics in 1998. Melih Gökçek had been affiliated with several Islamist and nationalist political parties throughout his political career.
GÖKÇEK AS A FERVENT ISLAMIST
Melih Gökçek has been one of the most ardent followers and practitioners of the ruling AKP party's policies. Gökçek is notorious for his statements about several reactionary policies of the AKP government. During the anti-abortionist outrage of the AKP, Melih Gökçek had scandalously said "Why should a child suffer because of his mother's fault? The mother should kill herself." He had also supported the women-only pink subway wagon project of the government, receiving the protest of the public opinion.
As one of the most disputed figures in the ruling AKP party, Gökçek had been a keen follower of the Fethullah Gülen sect when they were the ally of the AKP government until the last year's failed coup attempt. Gökçek's name is being mentioned along with other religious sects since then, offering the resources of the metropolitan municipality to them.
A CORRUPT MAYOR
Since 1994 when he was first elected as the mayor, Melih Gökçek has been involved in several cases of corruption. There are a total of 169 cases of corruption that had been opened against him, which are being abated in time.
Since he acquired his position as Ankara Mayor, Melih Gökçek had also greedily sought after the urban rent. Gökçek had sold a significant number of early symbolic public spheres of the Republic of Turkey for construction projects. Atatürk's Forest Farm Land (AOÇ) was one of those areas pillaged by the metropolitan municipality. AOÇ land, established by the founder of the Republic of Turkey in the 1920s, had first been pillaged for the President Erdoğan's Presidential Palace construction, and then for the Mayor Melih Gökçek's amusement park project Ankapark.
AN ENEMY OF THE ART
During his first years in the metropolitan municipality, Melih Gökçek had ordered the removal of statues by the artist Mehmet Aksoy for being obscene. Gökçek reasoned his decision by saying "They call what is immoral and pervert as an art. I would spit on art like that."
Along with his distaste for art, Gökçek has also been notorious for his vulgar taste in urban decoration. The giant robot and dinosaur statues, and his extravagant amusement park project have been severely criticised by the public opinion.
